The Essence of Evil
by CloudLoverXXX
Summary: Draco has a secret that could destroy his reputation. Will he lose his prized reputation or lose his love?
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone, how are you, good, I'm fine as well :) I know I haven't written much recently, but here are some Harry Potter fics (sorry if they're not satisfying) and thanks to the people who helped on Facebook. Enjoy!

Draco stalked through the halls of Hogwarts, the other students parting before him. He turned left and saw his target, those idiot Weasley brothers, what were their names? Frank and John, or something like that. He approached them, tapped the closer one on the shoulder, and, when he turned, began to yell.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! How dare you play pranks on me! ME! My father will hear about this, you meddling bastards!-" his rant continued for a few moments more before he realized that they weren't intimidated, that they were in fact laughing at him.

"Why are you-" he stopped, realizing it must be something obvious that he hadn't caught on to yet. He turned, and luckily there was a mirror there, because he was able to see why they were laughing at him. The tips of his hair were blackened, and instead of being slicked back like it normally was, it was standing up on edge. His face was covered in soot, and it appeared as though the hem of his robe was on fire.

He panicked for a moment, trying to stomp it out, before realizing it wasn't going out, wasn't hurting him, and wasn't spreading. He turned back to the Weasleys fuming, and continued his tirade.

"Magical fire trap on the toilet?! Really?! Are you so immature that you need to compensate by playing pranks on your betters?!-" the Weasley boys' laughter was dying out, and they were looking curiously at him. "I mean really, Frank and John, or whatever, do you really need to be so... So..."

"Bloody funny?" That was their brother Ron, who had approached behind him. Draco spun, ready to continue his lecture, but before he could, he saw the mudblood Hermione next to Ron, giggling, and couldn't speak through the apparent apple that had risen into his throat. She was so... So... Cute? No, he couldn't think that, his father was a death eater, not that you-know-who was in power, but still, and she was a... A... Really beautiful girl.

"I... I..."

He was interrupted by the twins. "Our names are Fred and George, mate. Have a nice dip!"

A dip? What did they-suddenly he was upside down, being held by his ankles as they dropped him in the rain barrel next to where they were standing. He flipped himself over and stood in the barrel, shaking his fist and yelling after the Weasley twins, who were just walking away calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

He turned back to Ron, continuing with, "And you! You..." Ronald was gone, and only the girl remained, standing there, head cocked slightly to one side, smiling at him as though trying not to laugh. Draco was at a loss for what to say. "You... You filthy... Mud..." He gave up, climbed out of the barrel, and stalked away to the sound of laughter all around.

Draco found a bathroom, cleaned up, and headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts. He entered late, and saw Professor Lupin at the front of the room, obviously already having started the lecture.

"Ah, it's good to see you, Draco. Have a seat." He gestured to the only seat left, next to... Her. The apple was back in his throat as Draco walked down the aisle and sat next to Hermione. "Ms. Granger, if you could catch him up on what he missed."

"Yes, sir."

Oh, no. She was going to talk to him... She turned to him and began to explain, quietly, that they were going to go back to the teacher's lounge, as they had on Tuesday, and continue with the people who hadn't faced the boggart yet. He managed to squeeze out an okay, and the class headed out to the teacher's lounge.

Draco stood at the back of the line, trying not to be noticed, but Crabb grabbed him and dragged him to the middle, where he stood awkwardly for a few minutes before it was his turn. He stepped forward, and the boggart locked onto him.

He turned and whispered to Goyle, "Save me! I don't want all of them to know my fear!"

But before Goyle could, the boggart was Hermione, and it was asking "Will you-"

"Riddikulus! Riddikulus! Riddikulus!"

And suddenly the boggart was Potter, and it was finishing with "go out with me?" Draco burst into laughter at the thought of Potter asking him on a date, but he was the only one laughing. He realized this and turned to the class, smile still half on his face.

"That was funny," Draco said, pointing at the boggart, "Potter asking me out? That was..."

Oh, no. The whole class knew, didn't they? He looked at them, and realized, no, they didn't. Oh, thank god, he thought, then his eyes locked with Hermione's, and the look of surprise and a bit of disgust on her face said it all. She knew.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone. Just going to get straight into it, then. Happy reading!

Draco tried to avoid the mudblood girl over the next few years, hoping his feelings would fade with time, but they didn't, and it wasn't doing him much good to try and avoid her, as she was in most of his classes.

Finally, in their fifth year, he decided he just needed to confront her about it. During a Potions class, she ran out of some ingredient or another and needed to go to the storeroom. He quickly followed her inconspicuously, and closed the door behind him when he got in next to her.

"Malfoy? What are you-" He put a finger to her lips.

"We don't have much time. I just wanted to tell you something." At her confused, questioning look, he continued. "I... Really like you. You've grown into a beautiful young woman, and I find you very attractive. All I need is you to reject me and I can move on. It's just that I-"

She kissed him. Passionately. On the lips. His face grew hot and he didn't know what to do with his hands. Finally, she pulled away, a string of saliva still connecting them until it broke. She wiped her face and said, "I've been wanting to do that since Lupin's class when I saw what the boggart turned into for you."

"R-really. How... Er... Interesting." His breath was hard coming, as though he was being choked.

"I've thought about it, and I think we can pull off a secret relationship. With my knowledge and your good favor with Professor Snape, we can do it. I've still got one of these," she pulled a strange hourglass on a chain out of her shirt, "so there's no worrying about time."

"What is-"

"Time turner. It makes you able to go back in time. It can be dangerous, though. You know, running into your past self and-" Now it was his turn to kiss her, and he did.

Draco pulled her into his arms, and their lips met, and parted, and their tongues found each other, and it was a few moments of sheer bliss. Eventually, though, they came apart, and Draco whispered, "I love it when you get logical."

Hermione smiled, and drew back from him, straightening her robes and grabbing whatever ingredient she had gone into the storeroom for in the first place. She left the storeroom, heading back to Potions, and Draco watched her go. When she was gone, he spun in place and breathed deep of the musty air that still held a bit of her scent on it.

He leaned against a wall and smiled to himself, happy with the world for once.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everybody! I don't think I have as many consistent readers on this one yet, but it is only a couple chapters long. Anyway, hope you all had a good year and are looking forward to the holidays, if you celebrate holidays during this season. Anyway, thanks for reading and sorry it's been so long since I updated! Happy reading! :)

Draco was giddy with excitement. The holidays were coming and he had tricked his father into thinking that he was going to Crabbe's house for Christmas when in fact he was going to the Granger's. The break came, and he got on the train separately from her, but they met in the middle of the train and got a compartment together.  
"Hello sweetie," Granger said to him when they were alone. He didn't say anything, but kissed her. When he backed away, she looked surprised. "Well. That was nice."  
"Yes it was." He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down into a seat with him, pulling her onto his lap. "You're beautiful, you know that?" He said, leaning his forehead into hers. She simply smiled back at him, staring deep into his eyes. He felt as though she could see straight into his soul with those bright brown eyes.  
After a moment, he let her up, and she sat across from him, unpinning her outer robe and fanning herself with her hand. "It's rather warm, isn't it?"  
"Oh, sorry, that's my fault," Draco joked. Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed as he also took off his heavy outer robe, tossing it onto the seat next to him. Just then, the snack trolley stopped outside their compartment.  
"Would you like anything, dears?" The old woman pushing it asked.  
Hermione pulled out a coin purse and grabbed a few galleons out of it, exchanging them for some small confectionary treats and a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. She offered Draco some, and he took a few, popping them all into his mouth at once without thinking. He gagged and opened the window, spitting out the wad of half-chewed gelatin. Hermione laughed.  
"Now why would you do that?"  
"I was... Distracted." He said, wiping his mouth.  
"By what? There's nothing to distract you."  
He looked her up and down meaningfully, then asserted, "Distracted. By you."  
"Really. And what exactly did I do to distract you, pray tell?"  
"You're all... Cute. And..." He thought for a moment, "You're captivating. Your whole presence just..." He gestured to her being in general and shrugged.  
She giggled. "Thanks. That has to be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me."  
"What? I've said much nicer things than that, when we're alone."  
"That's the whole thing, though, isn't it? Only when we're alone." She joked.  
"Well I can't exactly go around the school telling everyone I'm dating you, can I? I mean, if you weren't everything my father despised, I would, but you're not exactly..." He trailed off at her humorous expression. She was smiling at him so adorably that he had to kiss her, and leaned across the compartment to do so. When he began to pull away, she put her hand on the back of his head and pulled him back in, pushing her tongue through his willing lips and pulling him on top of her. He grabbed her by the waist and turned over so he was sitting, and she kneeled on the seat above him, her neck bent down so their lips and tongues were still entwined.  
Just as things were getting heated, though, he heard a bang outside their compartment and they both turned toward the hallway just in time to see Crabbe and Goyle getting to their feet and running off down the hall. He pushed her off of him and ran out into the hallway, sprinting after the boys. He reached them and grabbed them by the backs of their collars, pulling them so they were standing next to him.  
"Hello, boys."  
"We saw you kissing Granger," Goyle stated.  
"No, you didn't."  
They looked confused. "Yes we-" Crabbe began.  
Draco interrupted. "You didn't, and do you know why?"  
"Why?" They chorused.  
"Because if you did, then you would be hexed by both Granger and I every day for the rest of our school career. That's a lot of hexing, boys. Do you know how much hexing that is?"  
"No." Goyle said.  
"Neither do I, but I'm sure it would be quite painful, and rather humiliating. So, I ask you, who did you see me kissing?"  
They were silent for a moment, thinking, but Crabbe caught on first.  
"Parkinson."  
Draco slapped him upside the head. "If I was kissing Parkinson, I would be dating Parkinson, wouldn't I?"  
This time it was Goyle's turn to be the smart one. "You weren't kissing nobody, Draco. You was sitting alone."  
"Yes. Exactly. I was sitting alone, reading or something like that. Got it?"  
"Yes, Draco." They chorused.  
"Good." He gave them each one more slap for good measure, then started to walk away, turning once and saying, "No one!" before getting back to his and Hermione's compartment.  
He closed the door behind him, shuttering the window this time for good measure.  
"Sorry about that. The boys had to be taught a lesson."  
She was looking into a small mirror and combing her hair with her fingers. "I hope they learned."  
"Indeed they did."  
"Good. Now, where were we?" She got up and pushed him down into a seat, climbing on top of him and kissing her way up his neck to his lips.  
Draco smiled to himself as he closed his eyes and pulled her closer to him. Everything was perfect.

Whew! That was fun! Anyway, next chapter will be the Granger's holiday funtimez! Hope you all enjoyed and keep reading! :) bai


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